Holy Grail: Hydrogen turned to metal.

Research teams have been racing to develop metallic hydrogen, which is highly prized because of its potential as a superconductor. Superconductors used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines must be kept at extremely low temperatures. Costly liquid helium currently is used for this purpose. Now researchers at Harvard University, applying a pressure greater than that at the center of the earth, have turned hydrogen to metal, creating the first-ever sample of metallic hydrogen on Earth.